Talking All Things Denim With Sarah Jessica Parker

BY: VANESSA ROBERTS

To celebrate the launch of Sarah Jessica Parker’s vintage-inspired campaign for Jordache, ‘Fashionista’ talked to the star one-on-one about her earliest denim memories, how her style has evolved over the course of her career, and if she would still consider modelling 30 years down the line — à la Joan Didion for Céline.

Fashionista: Do you have a favourite vintage denim image or campaign from your youth?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I don’t so much have a campaign, but I remember some of the denim images from Robert Redford in the ’70s, Jane Birkin in jeans, Lauren Hutton, Farrah Fawcett, James Taylor.

Fashionista: I hesitate to call it a “renaissance,” but the vintage denim look is coming back. “Mom Jeans” are in again. How do you feel about that?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I think one of the many things that people love about denim is that it’s a very personal experience. You really look to put your own shape and DNA and finger prints all over it when you buy jeans. What you’re trying to do is make them yours. When I see a jean on someone else and I think, ‘Oh God, I want to get that,’ what I soon figure out is that’s great for her because she has this build and this shape, but it’s not right for me.

Fashionista: Do you have a first denim memory? A pair of jeans or denim shorts that you just loved?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I didn’t get jeans for so long. I wasn’t allowed to wear jeans. Eventually I inherited a pair from my sister, I don’t know what brand they were, but I was so admiring of them. She’s two years older exactly. As she would outgrow them, my mom would add embroidery tape on the bottom — that was a very common thing to do with jeans in terms of height. You would just add a wide, sort of tapestry. It’s actually kind of cool — we should encourage some big denim person to do that!

Fashionista: Do you see yourself modeling 30 years down the line, like Joan Didion for Céline, for instance, or do you see yourself doing more behind-the-scenes stuff in fashion like your shoe line?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I don’t know necessarily that I think of my work as “in front of” or “behind.” I’m an actor, and starting a new show in the fall for HBO — I’ll be in front of the camera, but I’m also producing it, so I’ll be behind. Also the shoe collection. A lot of that work is outside of the cameras and has nothing to do with me being documented. But when an opportunity like [the Jordache campaign] comes up with a brand that I’ve known about since I was a little girl, that I’ve coveted and have all sorts of memories attached to their campaigns, it’s really flattering.

I think I like having interesting experiences and working with interesting, talented people.

Fashionista: You’ve been such a style icon, whether it was on “Sex and the City” or your Met Ball dresses that are just so memorable. Have you seen a change in your personal style over the years, or has it stayed pretty constant?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I think it’s certain my style has changed. I think, first of all, your point of view changes. And probably, if you look back at choices you made five years ago, you wouldn’t necessarily regret anything — you might go, ‘I don’t know if I would wear that dress today,’ but you were probably really happy wearing it at the time. I have daughters. Is that part of my decision making? Probably not that consciously, but I would probably not go pick [them] up in something that I used to wear, just because it’s not right for me.

I tend to wear things and buy things that are for life now. I’m less inclined to be hypnotized by a trend or a ‘moment,’ but I think that’s a really important part in young women’s lives: to experience and dabble and sort of flirt with all those things because it sorts out who you are. That’s just not necessarily what I’m looking for now. That’s probably the biggest change — just how I look at purchases.